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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22356544">The Rarest Flower</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/VillainousShakespeare/pseuds/VillainousShakespeare'>VillainousShakespeare</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Child, F/M, Fluf, Forbidden Love, Implied Smut, Kissing, Romance, Thor Is a Good Bro, Tryst, forbidden relationship</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-01-22</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 09:06:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,235</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22356544</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/VillainousShakespeare/pseuds/VillainousShakespeare</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Anonymous said:<br/>Could I request the “forbidden/secret relationship” with Loki and reader? They dated back in Asgard, but with Loki as prince it was somehow forbidden so they needed to keep it secret. Someone found out and the reader was sent to Midguard and to not see Loki again and while she is there she found out she’s pregnant. Years later Loki found a way back to the reader and is surprised to see that they have a child together</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Loki/Reader, Loki/you</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>213</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>The Rarest Flower</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This was written for my Tumbler 200 Followers/Birthday Celebration Challenge! Hope you enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>"Darling, we have to stop this," you told him, wishing you could mean it as much as you should. "If someone finds out..."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I want someone to find out," Loki insisted. "I want everyone to find out. I want to proclaim from the dais in the throne room how much I love you."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>His voice was rising alarmingly as he spoke, arm encircling your waist pulling you close beneath the bright night stars. The air was cool and crisp, but in your princes' embrace you felt only the heat radiating from his lean muscled body. Just a bit franticly you raised your hand to cover his lips to keep him from shouting out your presence. Loki merely smiled and kissed your fingers, a stubborn look in his bright green eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You know that can't happen my love," you said, silently wishing it were otherwise. "You are a prince. In line for the throne. I am a nothing, a nobody."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You are everything to me," he interrupted, claiming your lips in a kiss that tasted of wine and chocolate covered fruit from your picnic. Resolutely you fought against what his kisses always did to you. There was too much at stake to give in, yet again, to the passion your dark prince could evoke in you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Loki, we must stop. I may be everything to you now, but we have known from the start how things must be. For your own sake and for the good of the realm."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"The good of the realm," he scoffed. </em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yes!" you went on tenaciously. "You could be king some day, Loki. Ruler of all Asgard."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Oh<em> min kjaereste</em>, Odin will never choose me," he said with a bitter laugh.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Not if you are tied to a peasant, he won't!" you said triumphantly. "You have to make an advantageous marriage. That is the duty of princes, to secure the safety of the realm. And yes, Odin may seem to favor Thor now, but things change, my love. Time will show him who the worthy son is, and he will turn to you."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"You believe that?" the need in Loki's voice when he spoke of his father was almost enough to break you. He so craved the approval and acceptance of the harsh old man, though he would rather perish than admit it. For yourself, you thought Odin was a foolish king with a glaring blind spot when it came to his sons. How anyone could miss the shining potential just waiting to be nourished within Loki was a mystery to you.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I believe in you, Loki," you told him, rising on your tiptoes to kiss him. "I believe you are destined for greatness."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I love you, min kjaereste," he told you, crushing you to him. "I don't care about your station. I don't care about anything but you. Say you love me too."</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I love you Loki," the words flew from your lips, unable to be curbed when he looked at you so intently, hands mapping your body in the moonlight.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Then let me show you, darling," he coaxed, plucking the rare night blossom that grew only in this one place, high atop the hill overlooking Asgard. You gasped as he trailed the precious white bloom down the side of your cheek and over you lips. You had never seen one before, let alone felt how soft were its petals. “Tomorrow we can discuss succession and dynasties. Tonight l<em>et me worship you."</em> </em>
</p><p>
  <em>You closed your eyes and let the night recede as he  lay you down atop his cloak. Tomorrow, as he said. Tomorrow you would be strong and do what must be done, for both your sakes. You would give yourself the fairy tale of tonight. One more night where you would feel what it was to be loved, truly, deeply loved, by a prince.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>***</em>
</p><p>Loki looked around the open space with disdain. They called this a park. Flocked to it in droves as though it deserved the name. Back home on Asgard it would not so much merit a bench. The gardens and parks at home, fragrant with teeming variety of blossoms, were each more glorious than the next. All of them, including the one where a very special flower grew. The one that he never went to.</p><p>"It's lovely, isn't it?" Thor beamed, waving his arms to encompass their surroundings.</p><p>"It's crowded," Loki groused in response. "All of these Midgardians and their pets."</p><p>"Dogs, brother!" Thor enthused. "They're called dogs!"</p><p>"What are they exactly?" Loki was mildly intrigued by the creatures, he had to admit. While his contempt for the humans might be thinly veiled, the beasts that led them about on woven and chain leads seemed rather noble creatures. </p><p>"Well, from what I gather they are loyal and playful, if a bit of handful to clean up after. They follow one around and fetch things, and protect you when the need arises. Also, they jump on you and drool a bit. Jane and I are getting one of our very own soon, she promised me!"</p><p>"Jane already has one of her own," Loki laughed, watching as Thor slowly took his meaning and blushed with rueful self awareness. That was one thing that had improved about his brother since his time on Midgard had begun at least. He seemed more aware of his own rather... well, dog-like tendencies and temperament. Loki supposed that there must be something redeeming about this planet if it could so enlighten the chronically dense.</p><p>"So what do you think, Brother?" Thor asked, voice betraying his anxiety. "Will you do it?"</p><p>"Will I do it," Loki repeated, looking around him with unseeing eyes. </p><p>"Yes. Will you take the throne?" Thor urged. </p><p>"This is really what you want?" he could not believe that his brother, born to be a king as he was, would settle... would<em> long</em> for this pedestrian life.</p><p>"It is all I want," Thor told him seriously. "A life with Jane. Protecting Midgard from her enemies. But I can not do that if I am King of Asgard. Take the throne, Loki. You have the wisdom and patience to rule. Let me be free."</p><p>"I will do as you ask," Loki began, raising one hand in warning as Thor began to build in excitement, "with one proviso. I will not marry. I will not have children."</p><p>"But you must!" Thor insisted. "The line of succession must continue!"</p><p>"I have sworn it, Thor," Loki spat out, eyes going hard. "I will not go back on my word. I will rule until my time is done, but you must provide the heir. It will not be of my getting."</p><p>"As you will," for a man who had just gotten his wish, Thor sounded less than happy. "Come, there is one more place I wish to show you."</p><p>Loki rolled his eyes and rose from the bench where they had been sitting to follow his bounding brother down the nearest path.</p><p>You had lost Lael somewhere in the Ramble, a series of twisting paths that ran through a section of the park near your home. A hint of anxiety stirred within you, he was not a large child and only ten of the human years in age. Still, he was strong for his size, and had the dog with him. Of course he did, the two were practically inseparable and had been since Lael's birth.</p><p>What a miserable night that had been. Though nowhere near as glacial as your homeland could become, it had nonetheless been cold and snowy enough to impede your way to the medical center where you were scheduled to give birth. All alone in the dead of night you had trudged there, not trusting the mortal transit system as much as you had your own two feet. It had been a long time before you trusted much of anything. There had been a man there, though, who while cold and somewhat distant in demeanor had nonetheless taken an interest in you. He was not your doctor, he had snidely comment that child birth was far beneath his skillset, but having looked at your scans and seen the anomalies therein he had tracked you down in the wing reserved for new mothers.</p><p>Steven was a friend now, and had introduced you to others like you; those imbued with gifts or physiognomy beyond that found on this backwards world. It gave you a sense of dark amusement that you were considered special here. Back at home it had been your very ordinariness that had sealed your fate. He had also gifted you with the small black puppy, saying that every Earth boy needed a dog. You had pointed out the obvious, Lael was not of Earth, but he had just smiled and reminded you that he was now.</p><p>You were actually on your way to meet Steven now, not far from here in the park. You missed Steven. He was still in New York, of course, but he practiced sorcery now instead of medicine and was usually quite busy. You found that ironic. It seemed you attracted sorcerers. Particularly the arrogant, dark haired variety with a caustic wit. </p><p>The other sorcerer, the first one, had been on your mind so much of late. It was only natural, you supposed. Thor, the golden Thunder God, had been splashed all over the television. It was almost comical watching the people of this planet fall under his spell as so many had before. You could not blame them; Thor was charming, handsome, noble, all that a God should be. If he did not have hair as dark as midnight and eyes as green as moss, well, not everyone cared for that. And if he was a bit dim it had never seemed an impediment before.</p><p>"Well hello there, little fellow! And you too, big fellow!" a booming voice interrupted your revelry.</p><p>You stopped in your tracks, all of the air rushing from your lungs in one gush. You had exchanged barely ten words with Thor in your time on Asgard, but you knew his voice. Turning to the side of the path, you looked down into the small ravine carved out by a little waterfall to your left. There, as if conjured by your memory, was a hulking figure with bright blond hair and bulging muscles. He was hunkered down on his knees, petting the dark fur of a large black dog you were all too familiar with. </p><p>For all the combined space taken up by the blond God and the frisky Labrador however, they barely occupied a moment of your notice. No, the figures below who had taken the very air from your body and caused your heart to beat so loudly that it threatened to deafen you were the two slim, black haired ones standing to either side of the clearing.</p><p>It was unfair, drastically, extraordinarily unfair, how handsome Loki still was after all this time. Dressed as he was now in Earth clothes, he was somehow even more remarkable to look at. It was as if his unparalleled beauty was rendered even more exquisite in the ordinary (though you were sure exorbitantly expensive) black suit he wore. He had filled out since the last time you had seen him. The youth you had loved so dearly with all your heart solidifying into a man with all his soft edges filed away. </p><p>Unable to endure the sight of him any longer, your eyes flickered to the boy facing him. Once more your heart beat a wild tattoo. It the dark hair, smooth and brushed back from his face, the straight spine and haughty tilt of the head, you had always known how much they resembled his father, but seeing them now, face to face, it was as if you were looking back into your youth when the two princes of Asgard had first come into the city in search of tokens for their mother and stumbled into your parents' shop. Only Lael’s eyes, the color of your own, were different from the boy you had met then.</p><p>"Loki," Lael spoke in a commanding voice, "behave yourself!"</p><p>Oh sweet Norns, you thought, suddenly finding your feet and hurrying around the bend towards the figures in the clearing.</p><p>"I bed your pardon," came the voice you had never thought to hear again. The one that made your stomach launch into butterflies and your mouth go bone dry.</p><p>"My dog, sir," your son's voice carried through the trees.</p><p>"You dog is named Loki?" Thor guffawed.</p><p>"Yes sir. My mother named him. It is a noble name. The name of a God."</p><p>"It is indeed," Loki's low, dark voice agreed. "And what do you know of the God Loki, boy?"</p><p>"He was the Trickster, sir. The smartest, cleverest God ever to exist. He was a warrior, and could best any of the other Gods at fighting, but chose instead to use his superior intelligence and his magic. My mother also says he was the most handsome, but that is not important."</p><p>"On the contrary," Loki purred. "I find it very important. And where is your mother, boy? Aren't you a bit young to be cavorting about by yourself?"</p><p>"I'm old enough," he huffed, puffing out his chest. "And besides, Loki will protect me. But here she comes now."</p><p>You skidded around the final bend and came to an ungainly stop just behind Lael. You hand, shaking visibly, came to rest on your son's shoulder, and you drew him protectively to you. Lael resisted, squirming a bit and rolling his eyes like any boy his age but you held him firmly.</p><p>"I know I'm not to talk to strangers in the park," he said defensively, "but Loki liked them! And you know what good taste he has always had."</p><p>"Yes," Loki's voice sounded strange, almost strangled to your ears. "Yes he always has."</p><p>You swallowed, unable to speak. You were suddenly intensely aware of the careless state of your appearance. You never spent much time on it when you were not at work. It was not as though you were seeking to attract anyone; who could possibly draw your eye when you had lost your heart irrevocably to a God. To the God now standing before you with unblinking eyes.</p><p>"Wait," Thor's voice cut into the tension filling the clearing. "Don't I know you?"</p><p>"Distantly, Your Highness," you said, curtseying as well as you could in your jeans. </p><p>"You are from Asgard!" Thor smiled, placing you. "Your family owned the small shop that sold trinkets and books in the village."</p><p>"Indeed," you nodded, eyes still not leaving Loki's face.</p><p>"What in heaven's name are you doing on Midgard?" Thor asked, sounding baffled.</p><p>"Yes," Loki spoke at last. "I would like to know that as well."</p><p>"The All Father arranged it," you said, eyes going to the ground.</p><p>"You spoke to Odin?" Loki's voice was no more than a whisper.</p><p>"I did."</p><p>"Your idea or his?"</p><p>Painfully you dragged your eyes up to meet his. A world of pain, long remembered, shone in his eyes.</p><p>"Mine," you confessed. "The morning... the morning after."</p><p>"I see," he rasped.</p><p>"Loki?" Thor looked from one to the other of you.</p><p>"You deserted me," Loki's voice sounded as though it had been dragged across the rocks.</p><p>"He would have found out," you said, words coming in a rush. "He would have discovered us. Already he was suspicious. I went to him and asked what would happen if you bound yourself to a commoner."</p><p>"And?" Loki asked.</p><p>"It would not have been allowed."</p><p>"I would have liked to see them try to stop me!"</p><p>"You would have been stripped of your crown," you insisted. "Devested of all royal duty and privilege. I couldn't do that to you!"</p><p>"I would think that was rather for me to decide," he told you coldly. "Did you have so little faith in me? I would have denounced all titles, all rights, to be with you."</p><p>"I didn't want you to denounce anything!"</p><p>"Except you!"</p><p>"Mother, what is going on?"</p><p>"Mother?" Loki's eyes went larger as he looked, really and truly, looked at the boy before him. "<em>Min kjaereste</em>, who is this child? Have you... have you given yourself to another? An ant of Midgard? Where is he? Take me to him that I may eviscerate him for having dared lay a hand on what is mine!"</p><p>"Loki," Thor grabbed his arm. </p><p>"My father is gone!" Lael said defiantly, flipping his hair back from where the wind had blown it in his face. "But he was not an ant! He was a Prince! And one day he will be a King!"</p><p>"Lael, hush!" you said, blinking tears from her eyes. "Loki. Look at him."</p><p>Loki stared, wild eyed, at Lael and slowly understanding lit in his eyes.</p><p>"Lael?" he whispered.</p><p>"It means God," you said quietly.</p><p>"When did you know?" Loki asked.</p><p>"I found out the last day we met. I wanted to tell you that night in the garden, but I couldn't find the words. I went to Odin to see... to see if we would be allowed. To be together."</p><p>"What did the old man say?" surprisingly, it was Thor who growled the question.</p><p>"I told you, Loki would be forbidden to see me. Cast out if he disobeyed."</p><p>"And? There is more than that, is there not?"</p><p>"He was..." you closed your eyes, trying to calm yourself enough to speak your greatest fear, "he was going to take Lael. When he was born."</p><p>"Father has many flaws, but he would never hurt a child!" Thor shook his head.</p><p>"Are you so sure of that?" there was murder in Loki's voice.</p><p>"He would not be harmed," you rushed to assure them. "He would be placed with a family far away, on another planet. There were reasons, he said, why he could not allow a child of Loki's to be seen on Asgard and acknowledged."</p><p>"I can turn blue," Lael said proudly, startling both men and causing you to gasp. "I am not supposed to talk about it, accept around special people, but Mother this must count!"</p><p>"Lael!" you scolded, earning a sullen pout from your son.</p><p>"He is - like me?" Loki asked, fear in his voice.</p><p>"Sometimes," you replied, squeezing your son. "I have a friend. A sorcerer, though not like you. Steven Strange. I believe you know him, Thor. He has cast an illusion so that Lael can only turn blue when I allow it."</p><p>"It's not fair," Lael sulked.</p><p>"So Odin wanted to send him away. To hide my shame."</p><p>"Or his own," you cut in. "He is the one who should feel shame, after all, kidnapping a baby and lying for all those years."</p><p>"Odin and shame do not keep company, believe me," Loki said harshly. "He sent you away."</p><p>"I had a choice, such as it was. Stay in Asgard and have the child taken from me at birth, or go away before his arrival and remain with him in exile. Leave you, or leave our child."</p><p>"You didn't think to tell me?" Loki's voice betrayed a heartache that cut you nearly to the quick. "I could have protected you, <em>min kjaereste</em>."</p><p>"There was no time. He was sending me away, to exile or a cell. I chose to protect what we had created, and I would do so again!"</p><p>"I never knew," Loki staggered forward and knelt before Lael, searching his face with an intensity that bordered on frightening.  "I had a fight with Father that day. I told him that I planned to ask for your hand, and he laughed at me. Asked what family in their right mind would wed their daughter to one disowned. I decided to call his bluff and sought out your parents, but when I got there they said you had run away. That while you cared for me, you did not want to suffer for my disgrace."</p><p>"Loki, no!" you breathed in horror. </p><p>"You didn't run away from me?" he asked, looking up at you with hope in his eyes.</p><p>"Never, my love," you shook your head, ignoring your tears.</p><p>"Mother," Lael broke out of your embrace at last and stumbled. Loki's quick arm shot out to steady him. One look at the small shoulder beneath his hand and Loki let out a cry of pure emotion. Canine Loki began barking, leaping about around the pair in the center of the clearing. "Tell me what is going on!"</p><p>"Lael," you said, looking over at the dark prince with his hand resting on your son. "I would like you to meet two old friends of mine. This is Thor, and this is Loki."</p><p>"Mother, your being silly!"</p><p>"She is not," Thor said seriously, winking at your son. "Those are our names."</p><p>"Then your parents were silly," he said.</p><p>"Our father, certainly. But our mother was very wise. Just like yours. I'll tell you what, Lael, it looks like your pup wants to run. What say we indulge him for a moment."</p><p>Loki made a panicked noise as Thor swooped Lael up onto his shoulders, but Thor smiled reassuringly at him.</p><p>"We will not be far. I think you two have a bit to say to one another."</p><p>As Thor trotted off with the boy and dog happily whooping, Loki stood up and took your hand between his long, white fingers.</p><p>"<em>Min kjaereste," </em>he said. "Can you ever forgive me?"</p><p>"For what?" you asked, confused.</p><p>"For not believing in you," he said, eyes, welling with tears. "For not moving earth and sky to find you. For leaving you to raise our son alone. Our son! I have a son!"</p><p>"You do," you smiled. "Loki, there is nothing to forgive. It was my mistake, going to Odin."</p><p>"It is what we are taught to do," he laughed hollowly. "Bring our problems to the All Father."</p><p>"Well, I will never do so again," you said witsh feeling.</p><p>"I hope you do not mean that, my love," he said quietly.</p><p>"Surely you don't think I could ever trust Odin after what he has put us all through?"</p><p>"Never," Loki shook his head. "But Odin is no longer the All Father. He is gone, darling. Gone to Valhalla. It is why I am here, to see Thor."</p><p>"Ah, then Thor will become King at last?"</p><p>"It was the plan," Loki said, playing with your fingers. "But he does not wish to take the throne. He has renounced Asgard and chosen to remain on Midgard."</p><p>"But that means..." you stared, open mouthed at Loki.</p><p>"The throne is mine," he nodded. "As of now I am the All Fathe of the Nine Realms."</p><p>Slowly, with great reverence, you sank to your knees on the dirt before him.</p><p>"My King," you said gravely, kissing his hand.</p><p>"Darling," he smiled at you, "there is one reason and one reason only I ever want to see you on your knees. And unfortunately, this is neither the time nor the place for that."</p><p>"Loki!" you gasped, a heat flushing your face as he helped you to your feet. </p><p>"Asgard needs a Queen, my love," he told you, "and I have told Thor already that I will have none but you."</p><p>"But can not be allowed!"</p><p>"I am the All Father," he grinned. "And I am Loki. I do what I want. And I want, I very, very much want you, my only love. Say you still want me as well?"</p><p>The insecurity on his final words sliced you to the heart. With a cry of joy you through your arms around him and lost yourself in that long remembered intoxication of his embrace. His kiss was just as you remembered, but even more desperate. You wished with all of your heart you were someplace private that you could allow the feelings, long kept shut up behind the highest walls, to over come you and lead to their inevitable conclusion. Loki was right, though. It was neither the time nor place. Reluctantly you untangled yourself from about him and smiled into his brilliant eyes.</p><p>"I have something for you," he told you fondly. With a wave of his hand he drew from nowhere a delicate white flower, perfectly formed. "I kept it, from our last night together, safe in my pocket dimension. As long as I had it, I could dream that I had you."</p><p>As you took the flower from his hand, your eyes overflowed with tears. He was perfect, just like the blossom.</p><p>"But I have nothing to give you," you told him, upset.</p><p>"Nonsense. You have given me a son, and you have given me hope. I never thought to have either. Now come, before Thor corrupts the boy more than we can undo in this lifetime!"</p><p>"As you wish, my King," you smiled.</p><p>Loki raised your hand to his lips and kissed your palm. He tucked it into his arm and started to walk, but stopped momentarily and turned to face you.</p><p>"One thing, my heart," he said, raising one eyebrow.</p><p>"Yes?" you asked.</p><p>"You named the <em>dog </em>Loki?"</p><p>"He was our protector!" you giggled, as Loki rolled his eyes.</p><p>"I see. Well, I suppose we shall have to take him with us. And just when I have finally gotten rid of Thor!"</p>
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